BOU AVENUESweet Grass Hills: Devils Chimney And Mount RoyalWhen I climbed Mount Brown in the East Butte
complex of Montana's Sweet Grass Hills the previous year, I regrettably
did not have time to visit slightly lower Mount Royal to the south.
This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it gave me an excuse to
return to the area, and thanks to a trip
report I had only recently discovered, I found a much more
interesting route to ascend Mount Royal from the east. Using the
trip report and Google Maps, I cobbled together driving
directions to the
trailhead. It is worth mentioning that this route entails crossing
a small section of private land near the beginning, and although the land
owner is, as of this writing, amenable to allowing access to
non-motorized recreational users, he requests that all visitors sign a
guestbook prior to entering the area (see trailhead directions for more
details).

Leaving Calgary early on the morning of 13 May 2017, Zosia Zgolak and I
drove south to the Alberta-Montana border crossing at Coutts.
Traffic was light, and we experienced no significant delays in getting
across the border. My trailhead directions turned out to be pretty
accurate, and all the roads in and around the East Butte complex were in
generally good shape. Just before turning onto the final dirt track
leading to the trailhead, we had to stop to open a barbed wire gate.
We spotted a sign here stating that visitors were to sign a guest book at
an unidentified ranch before proceeding beyond the gate. Up to this
point, I had assumed that all of the land to the southeast of the East
Butte complex was open for public access as mentioned in this
article, and after
the long drive, I was not really motivated to spend more time and energy
locating some mysterious ranch just to sign a guest book. Adhering
to the adage, "It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for
permission", we ignored the sign and drove beyond the gate to the
trailhead located near a large cairn at the top of a hill.

After gearing up, we hopped the fence and
followed a well-worn double track which heads northwest across grassy
meadows. We then descended a bit to cross over to the north bank of
Iron Creek before continuing westward up the valley. At a glade, we
turned north and hopped over another fence before climbing steadily up to
a ridge crest with views of nearby Mount Lebanon. From here, the
trail undulates a bit as it traverses across several drainages before
finally dropping into another glade which was the site of a former mine.
Just before dropping to the mine site, we made a quick detour up to a
high point which is marked as the "summit" of East Butte on the Garmin
Topo USA map. Of course, this is not the true summit of the East
Butte complex, nor is it even the bump most commonly referred to as "East
Butte" according to Google Earth. That distinction is given to a
higher bump about 1.5 kilometres southeast of Mount Royal. Still,
the high point proved to be a very scenic spot to take a break and was
more than worth the minimal extra time and effort to climb it.

Mount Royal can be seen in the
distance behind the historic Hill School.

Photo courtesy
of Zosia Zgolak

Sonny reads a plethora of signs before
opening the gate at the main road.

Photo courtesy
of Zosia Zgolak

Since the gate is locked, Zosia climbs
over a fence at the trailhead to begin the hike.

The double track continues up the valley after dipping slightly to
cross Iron Creek.

The trail appears to be well-maintained and largely free of deadfall.

This is one of many yellow bells blooming in the area on this day.

Zosia leaves the trail for a quick ascent of a bump to the north.
Behind her is Mount Royal.

Sonny and Zosia stand on the gazetted "summit" of East Butte (1697 metres)
as marked on Garmin's Topo USA map.

Mount Brown
is the highest summit in the East Butte complex of Sweet Grass Hills.

To the east, Mount Lebanon is begging to be climbed.

When Zosia and I resumed hiking, we descended to the mine site
and made yet another detour to visit Devils Chimney, a cave that has
some cultural
significance.
Entering the cave entails slithering through a short but narrow tunnel
which would not appeal to claustrophobes, but we had a blast wiggling in
on our bellies. The main cavern is quite spacious, and enough light
pours in from a couple of natural skylights to obviate the need for
headlamps. At the far end of the main cavern, there is a narrow
passageway that appears to go somewhere upwards, and closer to the
entrance, there is a lower, darker chamber that apparently goes nowhere
(a survey of the cave was done in
2001). Not really equipped for spelunking (there is not really much
more to explore anyway), we were content to just look
around the main cavern for awhile before crawling back outside.

The entrance to Devils Chimney is located right below the visible
skylight window in the rocks at right.

Zosia ditches her poles and pack at the entrance to the cave. Above
her is one of the natural skylight windows of Devils Chimney.

Sonny crawls through a narrow tunnel to enter the cave.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Zosia emerges from the tunnel inside the cave.

Zosia wanders to the back of the main cavern.

Zosia investigates a narrow passageway at the back of the cave leading
upwards.

Zosia checks out the entrance to a lower cavern.

Zosia crawls back outside.

Back out in the open, Zosia and I hopped across Tootsie Creek and climbed
steeply up a grassy ridge leading to the north slopes of Mount Royal. We
had to contend with a few lingering snow patches in the trees below the
summit, but otherwise, the rest of the ascent was straightforward. We
took some time at the top to wander among the many telecommunications
structures and buildings, and once we had our fill of snooping around, we
descended the southeast ridge to the col between Mount Royal and its
southeast outlier ("East Butte" according to Google Earth). Instead of
climbing over the outlier, we traversed its north side on an overgrown
road before muddling our way down tedious rubble slopes to regain our
original access trail. The remainder of our hike back to the trailhead
was uneventful.

Sonny climbs up and away from the former mine site. One of the
natural skylight windows of Devils Chimney is visible at upper left.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

After a stiff climb out of Tootsie Creek, Zosia aims for the north
(right-hand) slope of Mount Royal.

Zosia begins to climb up the north slope of Mount Royal. Behind her
is Mount Brown.

Sonny contends with some rubble and lingering snow patches on his way up
Mount Royal's north slope.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Sonny and Zosia embrace each other on the summit of Mount Royal (2102 metres).

Haystack Butte sticks up like a sore thumb to the southwest.

In one of the unsecured telecommunications buildings, Sonny is able to
watch the TPC Sawgrass golf tournament in high definition.

Zosia walks past some more telecommunications buildings as she heads for
the east end of the summit.

Zosia begins to descend the southeast ridge of Mount
Royal. Ahead is the outlier known as East Butte according to Google
Earth.

Sonny squeezes between
some tree trunks on descent.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Sonny hikes through a stand of aspen trees near the first glade.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

When we returned to my car, Zosia and I were surprised to find a note
attached to my windshield wiper. Someone had spotted my car from a
distance and went to the trouble of driving all the way in from the main
road to remind us to sign the guest book before trespassing on their
private land. We were originally planning to camp for the night at the
same trailhead, but the note made us a bit uneasy since we were still unsure if
we were on private land (we would later learn that both the dirt track
and the trailhead are on state land). After eating a quick dinner, we
drove back to the main road in search of the mystery ranch, and with some
trial and error, we eventually located the person--Dan--who left us the
note. Despite some
awkwardness, I apologized for not first coming to sign the guest book,
but Dan took it all in stride and admitted that the jumble of private
land, state land and BLM land in the area was confusing to sort out for
visitors. After I signed the guest book, Dan generously gave Zosia
and me an invaluable map showing the exact locations of the private lands
in the area, and he also provided some helpful advice about where to get
access permission for our next day's adventure--an ascent of Mount
Lebanon.

A
ring-necked pheasant wanders among the grass near Meissner Ranch.

Photo
courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Permission to cross private land near the start of the eastern approach
to Mount Royal can be obtained here at Meissner Ranch.